A typical prior art paper mill is illustrated schematically and very generally in FIG. 1, and is identified by the numeral 10. The prior art paper mill 10 receives a variety of raw materials at location 12, including wood, wood byproducts and recycled paper. These raw materials are mixed with chemicals at location 14 to create a pulp slurry. The raw materials and pulping chemicals used in the prior art paper mill 10 may vary from time to time in accordance with the type of paper being produced. Similarly, the types of chemical processes performed on the pulp at location 14 will vary in accordance with the type of paper being produced. The pulp is then processed and dried to produce the specified paper in the paper production facilities 18. Liquid portions of the original pulp slurry become byproducts of the paper manufacturing process and must be appropriately treated prior to disposal. The finished paper typically is wound onto large rolls for temporary storage at location 22 and for transportation to another facility where the paper will be cut, printed, folded and/or packaged in accordance with its specified end use.
Laboratory analyses are carried out in the prior art paper mill 10 to ensure that the mill is functioning properly and to ensure that the paper being produced by the prior art mill 10 conforms with specifications. These tests may start with the raw materials at location 12 to quantify certain characteristics, including moisture content, chemical composition, weight and such. Many more analyses are carried out as part of the pulping process, including assessments of consistency, fiber content, acidity, chemical composition and color. These tests typically will be performed on samples removed periodically from the pulp processing facilities 14 of the prior art paper mill 10 and analyzed at an off-line pulp laboratory 16. Results may be tabulated and periodically reported to supervisory personnel. The pulp laboratory 16 in a prior art paper mill 10 will include sophisticated analytical machines and special purpose computers for testing pulp samples, analyzing test results and tabulating or printing the test results into some usable format.
The pulp processing facilities 14 of the prior art paper mill also include certain on-line data collectors and analyzers. For example, pulping machinery may be operative to measure temperature, pressure, flow rate and holding time at various locations in the pulp processing facilities 14 of the prior art paper mill 10. On-line controls for the pulp processing facilities 14 may be operative to assemble, collate and report on certain operational conditions of the pulp processing equipment.
Tests are further performed on the paper produced by the prior art mill 10 to assess brightness, opacity, color, moisture content, tear strength, burst strength and such. Many of these tests are performed off-line in a paper lab 22 which employs special purpose computer aided test equipment for analyzing and reporting test results. Other tests may be performed on-line in the paper production facilities 18 of the prior art paper mill 10 to assess, for example, brightness, color or smoothness. On-line processing equipment may be operative to periodically report and analyze these data to the machine operator at that particular on-line location.
The prior art paper mill 10 may further require analysis of conditions relating to the treatment and disposal of waste materials. For example, the treatment of waste material may vary in accordance with environmental conditions, such as wind speed, temperature and atmospheric pressure. Waste treatment should also vary in accordance with the actual condition of the waste. Thus, some characteristics of the waste are analyzed in an off-line laboratory based on samples collected from the waste.
Technicians working in the prior art paper mill 10 typically have areas of specialty which define the locations in the paper mill to which the technicians are assigned. Technicians in each section typically requisition and purchase apparatus for data collection, analysis and reporting that is best suited to their particular responsibilities in the prior art paper mill 10. Hence, data collection, analysis and reporting equipment at one location often are incompatible with equipment at other locations in the prior art paper mill 10. Information produced in these various analyses travel along limited established channels of communication. However, there often is little cross flow of information throughout the prior art paper mill 10. Thus, the technician working in the pulp lab might have little contact with analyses being performed by the technician in the paper lab, and neither would have access to on-line data collection, such as production rates. Even within established communication channels, the flow of usable information would depend upon the ability of technicians to produce test reports in a timely manner. Decision makers in the prior art paper mill 10 might not have the simultaneous access to data required to make a well reasoned decision. Furthermore, decision makers in the prior art paper mill 10 often receive data in separate incompatible formats, and the reformatting required for assessing system performance often is unfeasible.
A failure to identify or respond to an operational inefficiency in the prior art paper mill 10 is likely to affect the quality of the paper being produced. A finished roll of paper that is found to be inadequate in some respect (e.g, tear strength, burst strength or color) may require recycling at a substantial cost penalty and with a corresponding inefficient use of manufacturing equipment in the prior art paper mill 10.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide apparatus for more readily assessing and assuring the quality of paper produced by a paper mill.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide an efficient method for assuring quality performance of an entire paper mill.
Still a further object of the subject invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for achieving efficient flow of information and analyses for use throughout a paper mill.